The Witch and the Hound
by GaeDearg
Summary: After a life altering failure, Louise gives one last shot by herself and summons a certain blue clad lancer.


Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night and Zero no Tsukaima are both the products of Kinoko Nasu and Noboru Yamaguchi, respectively. I do not own any of their works.

* * *

Louise was curled up in bed, her strawberry blonde hair barely covering a face that was distorted with depression. The unreal events of the day played back in her mind. She failed to summon a familiar during the ceremony even though she had tried so hard so many times. It was even enough to make her peers stop gawking and stand silent with pity showing across their faces. After humoring Louise's begs to try again one last time professor Colbert decided enough was enough and sent away the distraught young women to the headmaster before she died from exhaustion. Louise's moments in the officer are what caused her to finally break down; it seemed to confirm all the taunts her classmates made over the years, causing her deepest fears to come crashing down on her.

"Now, Miss Vallière, I regret to inform you that we must report today's happenings to your parents. I know this may seem harsh, but if you are incapable of even summoning a familiar we cannot let you stay at this school." Headmaster Osmond's words echoed through Louise's head, "incapable." Louise erupted from her bed in a fit of rage, beating her pillows in an attempt to beat down the memories from earlier.

"Who's incapable?" she repeated, before standing up from her bed with shaking legs. The fatigue from casting summon familiar too many times during afternoon took its toll on her, but what did she care, she would refuse to lose to something like failure and fatigue. Her depression and tears of the day turned into anger and raw determination as she grabbed her wand, she wouldn't let her life be dictated by this hiccup. Closing her eyes she focused all her remaining strength and began a chant that would change her fate, nothing silly and as long winded as the chants earlier, but a concise chant that carried her will.

"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, defying my fate, summon my familiar!"

* * *

An orange sky hung over the pier as Lancer finished his chat with Saber's master, though it did cost a good deal of fishing time, Lancer couldn't bring himself to hold a grudge against the curious youth. Slowly, the boy's presence faded from the pier and once again the blue haired angler sat alone waiting for a tug on his line while enjoying the pleasant atmosphere of the ocean. His mind wandered over his own story after telling it, until a good couple of hours pasted by and the sun set completely. This prompted Lancer to push himself up with a stretch; he collected what little items he brought for fishing and started to make his way off of the pier only to be stopped by the sight of a green oval surrounded by a strange aura of magecraft.

"Well, anit that interesting?" the spearman's red eyes focused on the object as he moved closer to examine it, with each step the oval pulsed with greater intensity, as if it was calling him to it. Stopping in front of the oval he looked it up and down only to let out an amused breath as if he was surprised someone would use such an obvious looking trap on him. Lancer chuckled paying the seemingly harmless magecraft no mind as he made to step around it.

"I don't know who you belong to, but I wasn't born yesterday," just as the words escaped his lips, a mackerel in his bucket took a leap of faith with some dying hope it could escape being dinner, needless to say it failed with a wet plopped right under Lancer's foot causing him to slip head first into the suspicious green spot. "You've got to be kidding me!" Lancer yelled as he was swallowed greedily by the anomaly.

The strange object turned out to be some sort of portal as Lancer found himself being thrown into a dark abyss, information of a foreign language similar to French rushed into his mind as he came to the realization that it wasn't a trap but some kind of summoning spell. He gave a brief thought to whether or not it was even possible to be summoned when you already existed in the present, but any deeper pondering on the subject died as he felt the strong pull of the abyss intensify. The spearman was about to meet his new master whether he was ready or not when a feeling of existing again was thrust upon him as well as a face full of smoke. Lancer didn't waste any time materializing his armor and noble phantasm in case he would have to act immediately; after all he caused a similar situation once. Quickly realizing that no sort of excitement was around he sighed and cleared the room of smoke with a mighty swing of his lance. That's when his eyes narrowed on a small figured of a girl illuminated by the moon light, her face looked haggard and he could tell at a glance she was ready to collapse.

"Help me." softly fell off her lips as she crumpled to the floor. Not sure what to make of the situation, Lancer collected his small master's body, "'Help me' sure is a vague request, lass."

The spearman took a brief look around the room only to see it was completely destroyed with a huge hole where a wall should be. He decided there was nothing of importance and leaped out of the room with his master's body. Landing in a courtyard Lancer felt unease with the sudden change of scenery, but paid it no mind as he made a dash for the large wall ahead of him and effortlessly made his way to the top of it only to be stopped by the view. Two moons hung in the night sky while the land before him looked nothing like Fuyuki, not being able to question his sleeping master he descended and made his way across the open plain, disappearing into the forest.

* * *

The darkness of Louise's dreamless sleep broke as her tiny eyes cracked open to a sweet alarm of chirping birds. She groaned and shut her eyes again, wondering why she'd ever left her window open in the first place. In her dazed morning ritual she sat up and slowly made her way to the edge of her leaf covered rock where she would stand facing her tree and brush her hair with a twig. She then moved to the right and opening up the thin air to grab a uniform she was already in. Louise froze rigidly after realizing she was not in her room, but the middle of the woods. What started as surprise quickly turned into panic when the small girl heard a voice call out at her from behind.

"Looks like the little lass is finally awake." Louise quickly spun around with a tense look on her face, taking in the sight of a tall man wearing strange style of dress she'd never seen before. His brightly colored shirt and black pants didn't pass him off as someone dangerous, but as her gaze trailed to his face which held a pair of red bestial eyes that stared straight back at her as if they were drinking her in.

"W-who are you?" Louise stammered trying to keep an air of authority even though her actions clearly betrayed her as she backed away slightly clutching for a wand that wasn't there. She could barely recall the day before, only remembering that she failed to summon a familiar during the ritual. Thoughts that she was kidnapped during the night slowly crept into her mind causing her face to twist a bit.

"What a troublesome master, first you summon me and make some vague request for help, and then you fall asleep for two days straight leaving me with no information. What's next? You going to tell me you're serious about not knowing who you summoned?" the man rambled with an amused smirk, but Louise's thoughts were soon cleared of everything except the words "summoned" and "master."

The small girls face shifted to confusion as she thought hard to remember what happened before she fell asleep and suddenly everything clicked. "I summoned a familiar…" she moved with vigor towards the strange man, as if she was never scared to begin with "I summoned a familiar!" Louise jumped with glee and in a fit of joy hugged her newfound familiar only to step back embarrassed by her actions.

The man looked down at her letting loose a friendly laugh, "Don't you think it's a little early in our relationship for hugs?" Louise was overcome by her characteristic short temper and refused let the sly question pass, nor could she forgive herself for the embarrassing display she made towards a familiar and commoner, even if she was in the middle of the woods.

"W-what do you think you are saying to your master, commoner! I can't believe my luck, I finally summoned a familiar and he turns out to be a commoner with bad manners." puffing up, Louise folder her arms and turned her back to him with a "hmph" of disbelief. Her familiar remained silent in the face the outburst. This gave Louise enough time to collect herself so she could continue with a tone more fitting of a noble.

"So, do you have a name commoner?" Louise turned around only to be startled by the man's face being eye level with her and colored with minor annoyance. His mouth opened to voice his awe at the situation in the form exaggerated "ha" before raising his hand and swiftly flicking his off guard master on the forehead, causing her to squeak.

"Listen here, lass, you didn't summon a simple familiar who'd blindly listen to you ramble on like you're talking to dirt. I am the Servant Lancer, Cu Chulainn, who was summoned to you for reasons I have yet to understand, but that does not give you the right to speak to me as if I am below you."

The man who addressed himself as Cu stood proudly, radiating an intimidating and inhuman aura. His strange style of dress melted away in a gust of golden motes leaving him standing in elaborate aquamarine leather armor with iron shoulder plates, strange silver colored markings running along the lengths of the armor, and in his hand a blood red spear a foot longer than he was tall, appeared. Louise's emotions were on a roller coaster, first she was scolded by her familiar who she took for a commoner, and now he used some strange form of magic she'd never seen before. The two stood in silence in what seemed like a stare down between a wild beast and a rabbit, before all the tension left the scene with the growl of Louise's stomach.

* * *

It didn't take long for Lancer to convince his master that fresh hare cooked over an open flame wasn't a degrading meal. Louise complained, but two days of no food forced her to hungrily eat most of the catch. When they finished eating, the elephant in the room was addressed as Louise began to bombard Lancer with all sorts of questions.

Lancer decided to give into her curiosity seeing as she wasn't aware of what she had summoned during her simple ritual and noted that it would probably make his life easier if he got it out of the way now. He started by explaining a little about what he was, leaving out certain details he felt would only confuse the girl since he was positive there was no Holy Grail to fight over. Louise's reactions became more animated as she stammered on about having summoned a familiar that was more impressive than a dragon.

"D-did I really summon something so powerful from another world?" Louise's excitement mellowed a bit once she let the answers to her questions sink in. If she hadn't witnessed his transformation with her own eyes she would've written this off as a commoner's lies. In fact, the young girl could hardly believe the man wasn't even a noble, though she guessed that couldn't possibly be a lie since someone with such strange abilities would obviously be well known, leaving her with the mind numbing possibility that he actually did come from a different world.

"You're not the only one surprised, lass. The last thing I expected was to be summoned to a different world by a little girl with no help or clue. To be honest, I'm impressed."

Louise grew a little flustered at receiving a rare occurrence of praise after being labeled as a failure all through her life and time at school. It felt like she had finally managed to climb over a huge hurdle to prove herself worthy of the name Vallière.

"So, lass, you got a name?"

She puffed up in embarrassment realizing she hadn't even given her name to her familiar even after all the questions she'd asked. "My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and I am your master." She answered proudly.

"Servant Lancer, Cu Chulainn at your service, master."

By the time they finished their formalities the sun was past its highest point and the fire that cooked the hare had long died out leaving just one unanswered question.

"Why am I in the woods?" Louise asked bluntly.

Scratching his head Lancer searched for a good way to answer this master's query.

"On the night you summoned me, you made a really vague request for help, so I grabbed your body and ran to a safer location. I had to watch over your sleeping body for two whole days you know."

Louise stiffened, at Cu's confession.

Two days was long enough for people to notice she was missing and cause a panic, especially after the events that happened that day. Louise palmed her face with both hands, the more she thought about the situation the more she didn't know what to do. She was effectively kicked out of the academy even if it wasn't announced that way. If she returned after so long with a familiar no one would believe her, they would just accuse her of hiring someone to pose as such. Louise shivered at the thought of what would happen if she returned and her family was in command of a search. She couldn't stand the thought of being forced to marry. After this trouble, it was most likely an unavoidable fate. Louise began to shrink under her thoughts.

"What's on your mind, lass?" Lancer crouched in front of his seated master. He could tell she was mulling over something difficult from the torn look on her face, but he couldn't help someone who wouldn't talk.

Louise stood up quickly, ignoring Lancer's question. She had summoned a familiar with strange powers, even if she was on the path to being kick out of school and forced to marry, and even if no one would believe she summoned Cu, she couldn't let this situation blow any further out of proportion. It may have scared her to death that she'd potentially be going back to face her mother, but if her familiar was as strong as he claimed, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The cards being in her favor one way or another this time caused her face brim with confidence, albeit shaky.

Lancer got up and placed a hand on his master's head causing her to break from her thoughts.

"Master, even though I'm a man of many talents, I can't read minds."

Louise began to explain her situation to the man in front of her, not that there was very much back and forth like the earlier conversation. This one was more of her trying to hold a tone suitable for a noble talking to a familiar who was merely nodding and rubbing his chin as she talked. It honestly exhausted her to the point where she gave up the act halfway through even though she was supposed to be the master. This man's presence of a wild beast and his friendly yet rough speech threw her off kilt even when he wasn't talking.

"So what you're sayin' is I made your situation worse?" Louise nodded at Cu's rhetorical question while trying to suppress an angry outburst that would point the finger since most of this stemmed from her, not that she would admit to it though.

"That's why I- no, we, have to go back. I don't want to know what would happen if I was gone any longer." Louise shivered at what was already waiting for her, but tried to hold firm.

"Well then lass, what are we waiting for? That castle I took you from isn't but a stone's throw away."

Louise gave her familiar a questioning look, how could they only be a stone's throw away when they were clearly deep within a forest, not to mention a small search party would've found them if they were that close to the school. The small girl ground her temples in thought while trailing in behind the man on their quest back to the cause of Louise's dread. Each step made her feet turn to boulders and her lungs become as tight as a bowstring, she kept her eyes to the ground as she silently followed her familiar. It seemed the stress of this was greater than she thought, but Louise couldn't run away even if she wanted to, after all, she only had the clothes on her back, no money, and no wand, even if she wasn't able to cast proper magic. These facts would force her to return to the academy. The distressed young girl was suddenly shaken out of her stupor when she crashed into Cu's back with a soft thump.

"You shouldn't let this trouble you too much, kid. It's not like you are being forced to stab yourself in the chest."

Louise scoffed, "I-I'm not a k-kid! Besides, you should be a bit more respectful when you talk to your master!" Puffing up she continued to rant at her familiar after he followed up on her comment, calling her reaction "cute for such a small lass." Louise finally managed to throw away any worrying thoughts she may have had thanks to her hot head. It was then she noticed they were no longer in the forest. The disparity between the time spent walking and how far back in the woods they started didn't match up, but instead of musing on what happened, Louise just wrote it up as her imagination since her current situation was more pressing. It was then the small girl jumped forward with an "eep" as Cu gave her a firm pat on the back.

"Since I have no clue which wall the gate is on, it's your show from here on lass." Cu yielded the lead to Louise and the two started across the field back to the source of young mage's current situation, Tristan Magic Academy.

The day ahead was surely about to become longer for the odd pair.

* * *

A/N: Feels like I could've done more with this first chapter but I couldn't really place my finger on it.

Hopefully I have all my scene breaks in the right spots I had to go through and do it with solid lines cause I can't work this sites editing page, it's kind of annoying.


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